The 68th Hunger Games- Where you stand
by The Minun
Summary: Aspen Jarvasan. 12 years old, and to young to die. He never wanted this, but now he has to. Follow him through The 68th Hunger Games! This was my first story EVAR. This is background info for 76th Hunger Games- Only One Chance. Read and Review!


**BAH BAH BAH! Ok, so this is Aspen ****Jarvasan's story of Hunger Games. If You've read my 76th,(Which you all should) he's a mentor for District 4 and is awesome. This was my first story I've really ever wrote... So cut me some slack. If the grammar is bad, I'm sorry. So... I think I'm going to do this in one giant catastrophe, 'cause in my standards It's short. Read and Review! Remember, this is just a bunch of Background for Aspen.**

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My first thought once awoke today: I have to get up and go fishing. That is how my life always has been and probably always will be. My name is Aspen Jarvasan, and I live in Fishland. No, I'm joking; I live in District 4. I'm 12 years old and about 4' 8'' (I know, I'm a punk-sized wimp). I go fishing every day, considering I'm from the fishing district.

Today is reaping day; two of us will get picked to, essentially, go kill people in the Hunger Games. Even though we are typically known as a career district, I honestly don't think we are. We have had some winners before- more than others, anyways- but nothing compared to Districts 1 and 2. I usually wonder who our stylists are and what they have in mind for dressing our tributes in. One year they had the tributes wrapped in fishing nets, and they forgot to add armholes. Another year they had them in blue clothes with bracelets on their ankles and wrists that made bubbles. A smart idea, but the bracelets malfunctioned. They ended up exploding, and the tributes fell out of their chariot.

This year we could win. Regardless of who is chosen, one of the older guys will step up as volunteer, with the intent of going into the games to kill everyone. We normally make alliances with the tributes from 1 and 2, yet most of the time they end up stabbing our tributes in the back (literally, not figuratively) and taking the prize. I have my name in only once this year.

I think all of this as I'm walking to the boats. Most people don't fish on this day because of the reaping, but my Dad, older brothers and I do. My oldest brother, Steve, is 20, and therefore too old to be reaped for the Hunger Games. Oak, my other brother turned 19 yesterday (lucky him), and is also too old to be reaped now. I always help my brothers and dad with the boat since our mom died when I was 7. She died in an angry mob of people trying to start a rebellion against the Capitol. It didn't get far, though. The mob was a bunch of men and women who cut the fish that we catch. They took their knives and killed everyone in their way, including my mom, who was on her way home with groceries.

After a long time on the water and a good load of fish, we head back home. I get ready for the reaping with a bath. I run my fingers through my dark hair, forcing it to stay down. I dress myself in a clean white shirt and a pair of black pants. As we head out, none of us say a word. Some of the older boys in the streets are boasting about how they will kill everyone. I'm not scared of being picked because I know it will never happen. I mean, District 4 is huge! There are thousands of kids here, maybe more; and it's my first year. How would I be picked?

After a bunch of boring chatter, like a video about war and the annual reading of the Treaty of the Treason, the tributes are picked. The representative picking the names is a lady named Nilly Aromate. As always, she starts with the girls. She strides over to the girls reaping ball and picks out a name.

"Sabarina Elmalock!" she calls boldly. Sabarina is girl I've seen around town with other girls. She is 12 like me, and in my class at school. And okay, I'll admit it; she's kinda cute, too.

"Now for the boys!" Nilla says cheerily, walking over to the boys' reaping ball. There are a lot of names in that big, clear ball. She walks back up to the microphone and opens the slip with the name on it.

"Aspen Jarvasan!" she calls loudly.

My breath catches in my throat, causing me to choke. I was not expecting this. Where are all the guys who said they were going to "crush everyone"? Nilla calls for volunteers, but not a sound can be heard. I am called onstage to shake hands with Sabarina. Great, I think silently. At least I get to die with a cute girl! They then lead us into a small room where we can say our goodbyes when my dad and brothers come in, we say nothing just stare at the floor. They are probably the only ones I have to say goodbye to. The door opens and Sabarina's father he looks at me for a couple of seconds and then says, "Look after my Daughter ok?" Then he leaves. My first thought that was awkward. Then we're put on this magnet train and sent to talk to our mentor. Our menor is the famous Finnick Odair.

"Hi I'm Finnick Odair your mentor" says Finnick with a welcoming smile.

"Hello I-I'm Sabarina" Wait a second, is that a stammer? Did she blush? Finnick, no stealing my girl!

"I'm Aspen," I say. I saw Finnick's Games on Television, as it was only 3 years ago. I thought it was cool to see him kill everyone with a trident.

"So I have two 12 year olds this year," says Finnick. "You guys better get some rest, but we'll be watching the other reapings right now."

"District 1's tributes are a muscular 18 year old and a 16 year old girl. District 2 was a 16 year old boy and a 17 year old girl, I believe her name was Lynianathin or something like that. The ones that stuck out to me was that girl from 12, a muscular boy from 7, A tall boy from 8, and a well built guy from 11." I say. Sabarina looks worried and nervous.

Then Nilla walks in saying,"I have news! I have news!" "Sabarina and Aspen you are the only tributes from the ages 12-15 in this years Games!" She says this like she is happy for us, "Well Nilla, Yippy."

The next day we arrive at the Capitol to a mob of strange people dressed like aliens. We find our floor with plush beds, television, and fancy chairs. I totally hate it. Nothing smells like dead fish, I love the smell of dead fish! I remember when I was little my dad came home with a huge fish and my mom started to cut it up.

Then I said "Mommy."

"Yes Dear?" she replied.

"I don't like fish," I said "It stinks."

"Haha" she said and smiled and ruffled my hair as she always did before she died.

"It smells horrible but it means something to me."

"Why?"

"Because I was at a market buying fish when I first met your daddy" she said smiling as she looked off into her own little world as she said,

"That day he asked if I wanted to have dinner with him that night and I said yes when I came over he was cooking something on the stove and he said,

"On no the fish are burning!"

"That night I had to cook with the dead fish I had bought and showed him how to cook with fish. Later we got married and had 3 young handsome men as children." she continued. Then she kissed my cheek and I ran to get the table ready.

It wasn't very romantic but I loved it. I love fish anyways, it tastes good and I know like 9 billion recipes with fish. My mother taught me how to cook when I was young and know I love to cook. The room is nice, but I may bring in some fish to cook something just for . Maybe a fish creme brulee or a chicken rice and fish dish just for Nilla. I'm sure she'll love it.

Today we are sent to see our stylists, the process for getting ready was horrible! They shaved your legs, pluck your nose hair pluck your eyebrows, wash you down, and then you think they are they see a small eyelash and jab you in the eye! They also talk too much do you know how many times I wanted to tell them to quiet down! At last I meet my stylist her name is AAlilian Crane. She said it was okay to laugh at her name she is wear a dark blue dress with a light blue vest that matched her sea blue lipstick and her ocean blue eyeliner and mascara.

"I've always had District 4 because my mother was born there!" she said, "I also love the colors I have to work with if I have 4!"

Ok she's a bit off her rocker but aren't most capitol citizens? I think I have a pretty good stylist.

"Ok what you going to put me in for the parade?"

"When I saw that I had two 12 year olds this year I had to alter the costume a bit, but trust me you'll love it."

I still didn't know what my costume was when we were in the dressing room when AAlilian came in to the dressing room with my costume. It was a blue tunic with a crown and sandals. She said she got it from an old Greek storybook. Some creeper named Poseidon and his wife what's her face. He was lord of the sea and blah blah blah. When we got to the chariot our horses were dyed a mix of sea green, light blue, and a deep blue.

"Why do they keep using blue?" I wondered. "The only thing that is blue is the water, everything else is gray, the fish, the boats, the houses!"

I do have to say the did do an excellent job of making the outfit comfortable. They did something different also with the chariot. AAlilian said she asked one of the gamemakers, Seneca Crane if she could spiffy up the chariot and he said yes.

"Who did you persuade him?" I ask

"A good brother will always listen to his sister!" she says.

"Sister?" Sabarina and I ask in unison.

"Yes!" she says, "He loved the Games part and all that blah and I love the dresses and suits!"

"So what did you enhance?" I ask.

"The chariot has imagers on the sides and back of the chariot!" she said happily.

"So what do they do?" Sabarina asked.

"You'll just have to wait and see!" said AAlilian. Then Nilla comes charging at us!

"WHERE IS CAPISKITINIUYA!?" Nilla screams.

"He's probably somewhere drunk," she turns to Sabarina and says "Capiskitinuphhh phha oh whatever he was supposed to be your stylist but since he's drunk all the time I filled in for him so I'm district 4's only stylist!" says AAlilian.

"You are doing a great job too AAlilian, I LOVE this dress!" Sabarina says and to show it off she gives a twirl. It is a blue one shoulder strap dress with designs of blue bubbles on the bottom and a lace trim. She also wore a pearl studded tiara on her head. Not too fancy just amazing... OK I've noticed yeash!

"I'm honored to have such polite tributes!" she said and gave one of the horses a sugar cube.

"YOU ARE GETTING YOUR HANDS DIRTY" screeched Nilla.

"Seriously Nilla stop with the screaming and screeching it's giving me a headache" I thought as Nilla screamed,

"Don't let it near me!" she screamed as one of the horses came up to sniff her and then it all went wrong.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKK!" she screeched and then she punched the horse! She hit it with her tote bag! The horses went crazy! They broke free from the chariots and smashed them! Our horses tried to kick me, but I moved out of the way. The other tributes were jumping on the horses and trying to calm them down, but nothing seemed to work to calm them down. I saw strap one of the horses and grabbed hold. I was flung around like a rag doll until the guy from 2 pulled me up on the horse he said to me,

"I believe they're putting this on the big screen in the stadium he said." Then he pointed at a man with a camera far from where we were.

"I think you're right," I said looking at the camera man.

"I think they want the capitol people to have a glimpse of us before the training," he said.

"OHH DARN IT!" the boy from 12 said as he was bucked off the horse he was on.

"SLOW PONY CALM DOWN!" the girl from seven as she was trying to calm one of our blue horses.

"RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRG GGHHHH!" yells the boy from 1 as he tackles a horse and... I think he killed it! I think the horse broke its neck.

Then the boy who I'm riding with gets bucked off our horse and I'm all alone on this crazed pony. I jump off and roll and slam into a wall when I see AAlilian and the girls from 6,11,9, and Sabarina trying to bring a mad horse down. I run back into the fray. The girls are thrown away by the horse and AAlilian calls to me,

"Break their legs!"

"What?"

"Break their back legs and they won't be able to run!"

I then grab a metal pole and WHAK! It hits a pony in the back of the legs and it goes down. I turn around and see one of our blue horses charging at me and I'm about to get hit then Wham! I see the boy from 2 I was with earlier smashing his wooden rod against the back of the legs of our blue horse.

"Ya gotta help friends!" he says then runs around telling the other tributes to grab a partner and smash some pony! I team up with him again and Sabarina has joined with the girl from 2, we have smashed about 2 horses when the peacekeepers march in.

"All tributes behind us!" the head peacekeeper shouts. I see the boy from 8 unconscious and call to my new friend to help me drag him across to where the peacekeepers are. He has a large indent of a horseshoe on his head and I believe he was downed by a horses kick. We drag him over and the peacekeepers take over from there with tranquilizer guns. There are some injuries bumps, bruises, a smashed pinkie finger, but our guy who got kicked by one of the horses was the worse. We disabled 14 horses and killed 3 horses (The guy from 1 killed all three). We have 2 hours to prepare for the chariot ride. Nilla is not allowed to be near us while we are preparing. AAlilian looks at us in our tattered outfits and smiles.

"Are we wearing these outfits in the parade?" asked Sabarina indicating that we looked terrible.

"Hahaha no you aren't" she said and smiled she held out 2 new outfits and she said "I made two outfits just incase one ripped."

"Yay my dress!" Sabarina said while I admired my new tunic and crown.

"Oh and Aspen this is for you!" AAlilian gave me a version of a trident that was my size, but it was lighter so I could hold it easily.

"Wow!" I say "Ummm AAlilian?"

"Yes?"

"How did you know if we broke the horses legs they would stop?"

"I was studying to be a teacher before I became a stylist so I know some things about Greek stories and horses."

"We need new horses though," says Sabarina. She is right both of our horses were killed in the fight.

"Oh we could use regular horses," says AAlilian.

"Our chariot was wrecked too!" I say.

"Hmmm what are we going to do about that?" Then a peacekeeper comes up and whispers in AAlilian's ear. She then says,

"Oh this is wonderful! They have made extra chariots!" They then lead us to our new chariot. It is a bit smaller than the other chariots since we're smaller tributes then I see that they have put stools in our chariots.

"Seriously?" I think to myself "We're not that small!" AAlilian and Sabarina don't look too happy either.

"Come on!" says Sabarina and she stomps her foot in protest.

"I'm going to talk to the chariot makers," says AAlilian. Then the kids from District 2 come over and they say,"Wow you have nice costumes!" says the boy " Oh yeah I forgot to ask for your name. My name is Jolan" he says as he holds out his hand in greeting.

"My name is Aspen" I say grasping his hand.

"My name is Sabarina."

"My name is Lynianathiyarita Jysratinerintuqurba'ka, but you can call me Lynian!"

"Ok Lynian" I say.

Then she whispers in our ears and says "Just for your information I totally hate my name but I'm not old enough to legally change it." Then AAlilian comes over.

"I got the problem with the chariot fixed!"

"Problem?" asks Jolan.

"Take a look" I say.

They look in to our chariot and say,

"Oh, thats kinda embarrassing" says Lynian.

"Thats stupid" says Jolan.

They give us a new chariot and for the first time I see little cameras on the sides of the chariot.

"What are those for?" I ask then I remember AAlilian saying something about 3d imagers on the side of the chariot.

"What's going on?" Jolan asks. Then I see the peacekeepers wheeling the horses away on stretchers.

"They are giving the horses treatment for their wounds," she says, "Sadly they can't do anything about the dead ones..."

"They can fix them right up?" I asked.

"Hahaha yes of course!, this is the Capitol!"

In some ways she reminds me of my mom a bit. She's nice, caring, and has the same laugh as my mother had.

"I believe we are ready!" says AAlilian.

"See you in training tomorrow!" calls Lynian.

"See you!" Sabarina and I call out in unison.

As we get into our chariot with no stools in it, our horses seem ready to go.

"You ready?" asks Sabarina.

"Only if you are," I say.

She rolls her eyes and asks, "How do I look?"

"Ummm, Great! Amazing!" I say awkwardly. I feel like a fool.

She laughs and says "You really do like it I can tell!"

"Ummmm"

She laughs again and nudges me "You look handsome too."

Is she flirting with me? Wow I thought this day would never come! We pull out and see the other chariots district 1 looks like a chimpanzee mutant Roman soldier. Fluffy fur like materials and a coat of armor. Lynian and Jolan looked pretty good in armor that glowed brilliantly and construction helmets. District 3 wore light bulb costumes that they coldn't seem to get comfortable in and they looked hilarious the girl just about fell out! Sabarina and I were laughing at them for the longest time. Then we were next.

We came out in our shining outfits and the crowd went nuts! I mean crazy! Sabarina pokes me and points to the 3d imager. Its making bubbles! Bubbles are flying behind us and the District 5 kids were swatting at the images behind us! I picked something out of my pocket. Bubble liquid and bubble wands! I pass one to Sabarina and she blows some bubbles then she laughs a bit. I blow some in her face and we both laugh, this is great! I blow some at the people in the stands and everybody wants to grab one. I hold up my trident and the crowd roars with excitement. Other chariots get wild cheers, but not as many as ours.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome... To the 68TH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES!" calls President Snow. I find the president creepy. I mean was he born with a fat lip or was their a failure in his plastic surgery? He looks like he's had 100 of them.

"We honor your courage, honor, and noble sacrifice," he says "And may the odds be ever in your favor." Then the horses pull us back into the ready rooms. Once the horses leave Nilla is allowed to come congratulate us.

"That was wonderful!" Nilla says as she greets us.

"That was amazing!" Finnick Odair says, "It looked like you two were having fun!"

"Thanks for the bubbles AAlilian," I say.

"You're welcome" she says smiling.

"Tomorrow is training," says Finnick, "There you may find who you may want to make an alliance with."

I look at Sabarina and she looks at me.

"We know who we want as alliance partners," we say in unison.

"Oh you do?" asks Finnick.

"Hi guys!" calls Jolan as he comes over in a tee-shirt and pants.

"Speak of the devil," I think as he comes over. Sabarina blows bubbles in his face and laughs.

"Oh come on!" He looks at me and I nod, I bring out two more bubble packets and give him one. Then we start to blow. Lynian comes over grabs a packet and sides with Sabarina and we have the best bubble fight ever. Than Finnick joins in and sides with Jolan and I and AAlilian joins with Sabarina and then she pulls out balloons and starts to fill them with water. I see what she is doing and grab some empties from her hand and fill them by the end of everything we're drenched and laughing hard. Everyone else is looking at us some are smiling most of the stylists looking are horrified and the boy from 1 is staring, just staring.

The next day we have training after one of our trainers talks to us about the rules in the center. I head over to the weapons section and grab a spear I frown at it and grab a large sword and slice my spear in half.

"What are you doing?" Jolan asks.

"I'm making it easier to handle," I say, and then I chuck it at a dummy and hit it square in the forehead.

"Nice!" yells Jolan. I get a glare from the boy from 1. I try everything in the time I'm here. Jolan is amazing with a sword and I would hate to face Lynian if she had a knife. Sabarina is amazing during the plants section getting 100% correct on the test. I on the other hand would probably might have eaten poison ivy. She laughs at my 2% correct on the test as I only got the plants I knew I could cook right and a couple lucky guesses. I did better than Jolan who put lettuce in the poisonous and non edible section, he got .02 percent right.  
After everything that day I cooked dinner for everyone that night and AAlilian even came!

"What is this?" asked Nilla.

"Fish" I said plainly.

"FFFFFFIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS SHHHHHHHHHHHHH? EEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!" She flipped my bean fish dish casserole! She broke plates! She flipped the table!

"I HATE FISH, FISH HAVE GERMS!"

"Nilla I cleaned the fish before I cooked them!" I said, but I don't believe she heard me.

"She is making a mess!" yelled Finnick.

"GERMS!" Nilla screeched.

Smash! What a tackle! Nilla goes down and stays down with Sabarina firmly on top of her.

"That's a beauty of a tackle if I've ever seen one!" says Finnick.

"Just help!" Sabarina says as she grits her teeth and ties a knot we learned in training with torn tablecloth. We tie her to a chair and she is still screaming about germs when AAlilian grabs a bottle of sanitizer squirted some and smeared it on her face.

"There now you're sanitized!" she says.

"At least we didn't have to call in the Peacekeeping force!" I say. We all laugh about that. Nilla calms down and she says she's sorry and the food actually tasted good until she knew it was fish.

"I usually cook my own food," she admits, "All the food here and on the train I cooked."

"Wow that food on the train was great!" says Sabarina. I didn't think too highly of it, but I see what Sabarina was doing.

"I loved it too!" I say lying through my teeth.

"I THOUGHT THE FOOD TASTED LIKE HAIRY BEEF LEGS WITH FISH GUTS!" says Finnick.

Now it looks like Nilla is going to cry.

"Way to go Finnick," I think to myself, but one piercing glare from Sabarina and...

"You know much I love Hairy beef legs with fish guts!" he says forcing a smile.

A sly smile creeps across AAlilian's face as she says,

"Hey Nilla I believe we have some ingredients for Hairy beef legs with fish guts, and we could order the rest of the ingredients," she winks at me and continues to say, "You could make an ENORMOUS dish of them and Finnick would eat them all!"

"Sniff, You think so?" Nilla asks.

"I KNOW so," AAlilian answers back, "Won't you Finnick Odair?"

"Yes... Ma'am."

"Excellent, now Nilla lets go get Finnick's dinner ready."

After they left Sabarina and I burst out laughing.

"You dug yourself a pretty nice hole there!" says Sabarina.

That night Finnick ate his dinner, and spent the rest of the night in the bathroom.

We were having lunch with Jolan during training a couple days later and then I see Lynian and the tributes from 1 talking. What are they talking about? I get my answer when Lynian sits down on my right and says,

"I want to join Sinatalla and his group in the games."

We all look at her like she just jumped off a cliff.

"Sinatalla is the boy from 1 right?" I ask.

"Yes," she replies. "It is a smart idea to join with him he has the tributes from 1,3,5,6,7,9,10,the girl from 11, and the boy from 12 following him!"

"I don't like that idea" says Jolan.

"Why do you want to join with him anyways?" Sabarina asks.

"I-I find him very attractive!" she says after a moment.

We all stare at her again for a long moment then I say,

"Describe your definition of attractive." I can see Sabarina suppressing a giggle and that makes Lynian very, very mad.

"Fine I didn't want to join you guys anyways!" she yells at us.

"I guess we're out one alliance," Jolan says.

We all know what he means as Lynian heads over to Siniatalla and she speaks to him in what I'm guessing is sign me in. We look at each other and Jolan shakes his head. She's lost to the Careers. Then the guy we saved from the horses come over.

"Hey I'm sorry I forgot to thank you properly so here it is," he took a deep breath and said, "IwanttojoinyourallianceandI'mreallygoodwithanaxeandmydis trictpartenerislikegoingsolo shesaidandIwantedtorepayyoua ndIthoughtthiswouldbethebest Idea!"

We look at each other for a moment and Jolan nods, we need more people Sinatalla has more people than ever with 18 tributes under his control.

"Show us how you handle an axe," I say. I want to see how good he is. He picks up a giant axe I saw Sinatalla trying to handle and lifts it easily. He breathes in and out for a couple of seconds and away it goes and misses the target! I was about to say it was alright, but it comes flying back and hits the dummy square in the back of the head.

"OK you're on!" Sabarina cheers and we have no problem with that.

"So what's your name?" I ask smiling and he replies,

"Marcellus."

When we go for training scores Sabarina goes in first. After a while a peacekeeper says I can come in and I see some short spears in a small wrap and toss them all over the training center. I see some very surprised faces including creeper beard and AAlilian's brother Seneca Crane. I start to run around the room grabbing spears and throwing them hitting every single target with ease. I did jumping, rolling while throwing, sword handling, and obstacle courses and climbing exercises. They said I could go and I felt good.

That night I was watching with Jolan, Sabarina, Finnick, and AAlilian. AAlilian told Nilla there were going to be horses all over the training and Nilla fled the scene.

District 1!

Sidniay Go'lanske - 11

Sinatalla Losenphene -11

District 2!

Lynianathiyarita Jysratinerintuqurba'ka - 11

Jolan Inerikes - 11

"Nice!" I shout to Jolan who was sitting on the couch next to me.

"Thanks!"

District 3!

Simatabob Chocho - 1

Holan Teea - 1

District 4!

Sabarina Emalock - 10

Aspen Jarvasan -... 12

We didn't listen to the rest of the training scores and we didn't care. A 10 and a 12! That was amazing! I heard that night Marcellus got a very high 9 everyone else who was on the alliance with Sinatalla got lower than a 4. The next day we were getting ready for our interviews with Caesar Flickerman!

I got a suit and tie all blue from AAlilian. Sinatalla was just creepy, he didn't talk at all! He just nodded to everything. Lynian said some things about boys and how dumb they are. Jolan talked about a fake strategy he was going to use to win the games.

I didn't care about the other tributes. When Sabarina goes up Caesar asks the question.

"Is there a guy back in 4?"

Caesar shut your mouth! I think to myself.

"No not really," she replies.

"Is there anyone you thought about?"

"Yes, yes I have thought about someone a lot."

Who who? I wonder to myself frantically.

"Who who?" asks Caesar.

"You'll see!"

Then it's my turn to go on stage. I go out and I hear Caesar yelling

"Aspen, the only person to get a 12 in the last 38 years!"

I sit down in a chair by Caesar and get asked,

"I hear you're quite a cook!"

"Yeah I guess so,"

"Who taught you?"

"My mom."  
And with that comes a flashback. I was learning how to cook with my mother and was out in a small woods and a plains area.

"This is edible," my mom said picking up a plant and putting it in her basket.

I was looking for plants and seeing if they were edible. I found some dandelions and asked my mom if I could cook those.

Her eyes lit up and said "Dandelions! When we get home I'll show you my favorite recipe!"

We got back home and my mom showed me how to cook it. She said she needed some veggies and fruits from the market. She got her jacket and went out to the market. I kept stirring until I needed to go on to the next step. I grabbed cinnamon, rosemary, and a pinch of paprika and added my own twist to it with fish. I first made a stew and I kept the fish whole and strained it and made a sauce out of dandelion stems and had it on steaming on a plate when a 14 year old Oak and a 15 year old Steve run in and say mom has been killed. I stare at them and I can feel the tears forming in my eyes.

I'm back in reality now and Caesar thanks me for a great interview and I leave. I feel like crying. My family is, was, and always will be the most important thing to me. I don't know what will happen if I don't come back. I see Sabarina coming toward me and I know I've been thinking about something and she engulfs me in a hug and tears come to my eyes again. That night I tell Jolan, Sabarina, and Marcellus what I've been thinking.

"I heard there was a mob, but I didn't know your mom died," said Sabarina.

"Yeah," I reply.

"We better go to sleep for tonight," Marcellus says.  
"Remember the plan!" says Jolan. Then we head off to bed.

We are then shipped to a giant ship to go to the games. I'm on the ship with Sinatalla, Sabarina and our new friend Marcellus. Marcellus is a big kid with dark skin, dark hair and tall build. He is very kind and like Sabarina and is very knowledgeable. He, Jolan, Sabarina, and I hit it off right away as we started training together.

Sabarina nods to me and I nod back, we're ready.

When I'm alone in my send-off room AAlilian comes in and says,

"Good luck, I'm proud of you and remember what Finnick said."

I remember what Finnick said alright. Sabarina and I talked to Finnick about our choices and he said,

"Nice choices I watched the boy and he's awesome!"

"We made a plan," I say.

He nods, "That is good," he replies, "Remember to stick to that plan."

I'm loading up into my tube and I'm wearing a blue jacket with a blue tee underneath. I wave goodbye to AAlilian and I say hello to the arena.  
It's a mountain arena theme, but I see some plains in the distance. There is hardly woods and hardly any water sources. Then I realize we're on the top of a mountain! I look at the clock on the Cornucopia and I see :30 seconds. I get ready to rumble, but right before the gong sounds at :01 second. The kids on the sides of Sinatalla and Sidniay jump off their panels causing an explosion and then the gong sounds. I'm the first one off and I see my two packs of short spears I grab them and a small shield. Sabarina grabs a large bundle of backpacks that has 8 of them and a pack of knifes. I run away with Sabarina down the mountain and Marcellus comes beside us and has 2 large axes, a pack of small axes, and a shield.

"Wait yo!" yells Jolan. Jolan comes running with a large diamond sword. We run down the mountain and see a river and we decide to follow it into the plains.

"Where are we going to sleep tonight?" Marcellus asks.

"I don't know," we plop down by the river and drink. The water tastes delicious. Then Jolan tackles me sword in hand.

"Don't move," he growls. Traitor! He was ricking me all this time! Marcellus tackled Sabarina and she is staring at something... Mutts large wolf-ones.

"Let me up," I hiss and he lets me.

"Sorry dude didn't want a lot of movement," he says. I get it. One false move could kill us all.

"Scan to see if there are more," Sabarina says. She's right If there are more they will kill us.

"Everyone slowly get on one knee" I say. Everyone did and drew a weapon. I look around and see 3 more Wolf-mutts. I point to them and say,

"We each get one, and then we run together, got it?" Nods all around. I ready my spear and throw. It sails through the air and thuwunk! Bullseye! I start to get up when Sabarina gets up and we run a couple seconds later Marcellus comes, then Jolan. We run down the river path and find a small cave with a lake. Then we settle down in a cave. I hear a loud BANG! I look out and Marcellus is on the ground hands over his head.

"Marcellus!" I yell.

"Owwwwwwwww," he moans.

"What's wrong?" I ask and Sabarina and Jolan come out of the cave. I then see a big cooking pot with a small parachute that didn't seem to slow the pot down at all. I go over to the pot and see a note attached to it.

Here is something to cook with, just don't make Hairy Beef Legs With Fish Guts. I try not to smile, but I can't help it.

"What are you smiling at?" asks Marcellus, "That hurt!"

"Sorry!" I say then I smile some more.

"Stop smiling!"

That night we look up in the sky and the only people we see are the panel jumpers.

"Everyone must of joined with Sidniay and Sinatalla." Jolan says.

"He's one tough guy." says Sabarina.

"Yeah we better keep moving next morning," I say.

So the next morning I went fishing at the crack of dawn. I caught 2 small fish and a large trout. I was making breakfast with herbs and spices that I found with Sabarina after I went fishing. She was helping me cook a delicious soup when Marcellus woke up.

"Ugh," he said, "What smells good?"

"Soup!" Sabarina replies.

"What type?"

"Fish, herb and spice," I say flatly. We wake Jolan up to eat and we then move on. We walk along the river again and we hear a shrill shriek from the woods. We look at each other with a weird looks. Mutts?

"Should we hunt the Mutts down?" asks Marcellus. We all look at Jolan who is pretty much leader of this group.

"Sure," he says so we turn around and head to the woods. During lunch I ask Marcellus about life in District 8.

"It's boring totally B-O-R-I-N-G! We all laugh at that.  
"Seriously!" he says, "That is why I go to work in 7 and live on the border of 7 and 8."

"But you live in 8 right?" asks Sabarina.

"Yep with my mom and dad."

"Ya got a girl Marcellus?" Laughs from all around.

"Haha yeah I do her name is Leana."

"Nice," I say and give him a fist bump.

"She's the sweetest thing ever alive," he says, "I wonder if she's thinking of me," he says. I see Sabarina look at me like she wanted something, but I couldn't figure it out. We kept moving and we heard the same shriek again.

"That's weird," said Jolan, "One shriek and it would of finished that person."

We follow the shrieks to the Cornucopia where we see the Careers. They have someone pinned against the side of the Cornucopia and are whipping him or her. I take a closer look and I see it's Lynian.

I start to stand and grab a short spear. Jolan pulls me down.

"I see you let your friends get away!" says Sidniay.

"Pl-lease n-o-oo." whimpers Lynian. Sidniay pulls out a whip and starts to slash her all over her clothes are torn her skin ripped open. Sinatalla did nothing, he let Sidniay do everything.

"I liked you Lynian, we asked you to join our alliance," she hisses in her face, "But then I see you running over trying to escape us and join your friends with what?" She lets the answer hang in the air. "Every weapon and food supplies we had!"

The other tributes start to yell curses and throw stones at Lynian and some hit her directly. One hits her in the eye and it starts to swell shut.

"That beautiful hair of yours, let's cut it." Sidniay says.

Sidniay pulls a knife out and cuts all her hair off her head so she is shaved bald. She misses purposely a couple of times and slashes her face causing more shrieks of terror and pain. Sinatalla says nothing. He then grabs a sword and slashes her in the gut. Then they leave for the mountains in the east.

Once we're sure they're gone we rush to Lynian's side. She's losing blood by the second.

"That cut was her final blow," said Marcellus. Then I remember Marcellus never really got to know Lynian, but he realized what she meant to us. He reaches into his pack and brings out a small jar of syrupy liquid. "Here have this it will ease the pain." He spoons a little into her mouth and she starts to relax.

"Thank you," she says. "Jolan I'm sorry that I went with Sinatalla, I realized too late where he stood and I tried to come and find you, but..."

"Lynian, no don't." Jolan cries desperately.

"Hey Sabs," Lynian says to Sabarina.

"He-ey," she says through choked sobs.

"Remember what I told you about..." she looks at me and she says, "You know what." She gives me a quick look and gives Sabarina a wink and turns to me.

"You gotta be careful about those Careers there is something different about them."she says to me. "Marcellus look out for these three, they're total troublemakers you seem like a guy who'd protect them. Too bad I didn't get to know you better." She smiles and looks off into the distance.

"You're going home Lynian, home." Marcellus says in a soft voice.

"Home." Lynian echoes and that was all. Jolan and Sabrarina start to cry, but I can't I-I just can't. We head back to the plains where we sleep for the night. That night we see 2 faces in the sky. Lynian's and the girl from 8.

"What?" asks Marcellus. "Juliana was killed?"

"Did she join the Careers?" Jolan asks.

"No, she thought Sidniay was a jerk. So she didn't join!"

"Wait a second" I say, "We forgot to check the backpacks!

We open the backpacks and find ourselves loaded with goodies. A couple of knives, bread, and dried fruit, blankets, and water bottles.

"We need to move next morning," says Jolan. He's right as always the Gamemakers will move us if we're too far away from the Careers.

The next day we journey on trying to get to the Cornucopia. We see the Careers running toward us. We grab a weapon and are about to fight when everyone runs past us. We look at them and then we hear a scream. A girl was running from a stampede of metal bulls with sharp razor-like horns. They get to the girl and sliced her. We all start to run and then they're about to catch up to us when head into the smash the trees and we still keep running. I see Marcellus start a match and he yells,

"Keep running!" He throws the match at the bulls and the ground starts on fire. Then the trees catch and a couple of bulls get downed by the trees.

We get to a clearing where the Career group is waiting for us.  
"Thanks for ridding us of the bulls," says Sidniay.  
We get ready to fight and Marcellus makes the first move. He chucks 7 small axes and misses all of them.

"What a shot! I'm so scared!" said Sidniay mockingly. Then she heard it. THWONK. She looked around and saw that 2 of her tributes had a taste of small axe in their bodies. THWONK. THWONK. THWONK. THWONK. THWONK. THWONK. 14 tributes, 14 cannons.

We all stare at Marcellus for a second then Sinatalla rockets a spear in Marcellus's gut. Marcellus goes flying into a riverbank. We all glare at Sinatalla and then they fled for the mountains. We run over to Marcellus and he looks at me.

"Hehe well that was fun," he said then winces.

"You got them tributes," Jolan says as Marcellus smiles.

"Sure did!" he says and then he says to everyone, "I need to talk to Aspen for a sec."

Jolan and Sabarina look at me and I nod. They leave and Marcellus talks to me.

"Aspen, there is a line between War and Love. Find your place on that line and stand there and fight. If you stand in the middle you'll always be torn and you need to find that place." I don't have a clue what he's saying, but he continues, "I placed my feet on the line and stood till' well." I know what he means he means until the death. He smiles at me and continues on "You may not know what that means yet but you will." I look at Marcellus and figured out what he means. He placed his feet on love that is why he killed all Sinatalla's tributes. For us.

"You wanted us to live." I say.

He nods, "I placed my feet on love, you guys were like the coolest people I could ever meet."

"What do I do?" I ask desperately. He shakes his head.

"Let your heart guide your feet and your mind lead your spear. You need to find your place where you stand and never stop believing in where you stand and why you stand there." He gasps for a bit and I give him some pain reliever and he smiles.

"Leana..." then he dies. I hear the cannon and I start to feel the tears again. This time the tears don't ever stop. Marcellus died with his feet on love. Sabarina and Jolan look shaken.

Then everything is a blur and I go blank.

I wake up in the cave in the plains.

"What happened?" I ask and Jolan and Sabarina look at me.

"You're up, thank goodness!" says Sabarina and hugs me. I smile and ask again,

"What happened?"

"You passed out and it's been 3 days since Marcellus." Jolan says, "The Gamemakers have been changing the arena."

"What?" I ask.

"Just look around us," says Sabarina. I do as she says and look around and I notice the mountains are gone and the arena is much smaller.

"They added something too." says Jolan. I look and see a large tower rising above all.

"What's the tower there for?" I ask.

"I don't know," says Jolan.

"Should we check it out?" I ask.

"That's what we've been trying to figure out," Sabarina says. "It may be their finale."

We decide to head over and check it out next morning at first light.

Sabrarina comes and sits next to me on the top of a small hill.

"Remember what today is?"

"Hmm what?" I ask.

"You seriously don't remember? Serious?!"

"You can tell me!" I say rolling my eyes obnoxiously.

"You fail! Two words," she leaned in close to my ear. "Happy Birthday!"

I completely forgot! Wow so I was now 13...

"So I'm 13 and manly!" I said proudly, stroking my non existent facial hair.

"Hahaha well 13, but manly...I'll have to think about that one." We sit there just thinking. Then Sabarina breaks the silence. "Have you ever thought about when... Well... You know they won't allow 2 winners and they will probably never will. So what do we do? I mean you and I! We both can't to go home," Sabarina eyes me nervously.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you as long as I can. I promise." I reassure her. The next morning we head out.

We hear rustling in the woods and Sidniay and Sinatalla jump out.

"We've been waiting for you!" says Sidniay. I pull out my long spear and prepare to jab it at her, but Sinatalla is too fast he gives a quick throw with a knife and I duck I stab my spear in Sinatalla's leg and he grunts.

"That's weird," I think to myself, "It went all the way through his leg! That would make a normal person scream!"

They run and Jolan calls to me and I see Sabarina on the ground.

"N-no," I say and drop to my knees. The knife that missed me went straight to Sabarina into the side of her abdomen.

"Hey Aspen," she says weakly with a smile. I smile back, but it takes all my power. I feel the tears again.

"You have to win, for me."

"O-okay," I say I can't hold back the tears they're streaming down my face.

"Don't cry," she says.

"I don't think I'll ever stop crying." I reply and that makes her smile.

"I'll see you back in 4 ok?"

"Ok."

She kisses me on my cheek and falls asleep forever.

That night I don't want to look up at the stars. I don't want to eat or anything. I want this over! I say to Jolan that day,

"We need to hunt Sinatalla."

He looks at me and nods "We have to repay him."

I see a parachute falling from the sky and I open it. It's a picture of Sabarina. The note says, I'm Sorry.

We head out that day and find Sinatalla and Sidniay having lunch we charge in and attack.

I stab a spear at Sidniay and she counters with a large iron whip. She tries to curl it around my leg and I stab with my spear. I see Jolan going for Sinatalla's injured leg with his diamond sword. I switch spears and go with a small shield and short spear combo. Then Jolan goes for the final blow which Sinatalla isn't ready for. The next thing I know Sidniay is in front of Sinatalla and takes her death blow, a slash to her chest. She falls and Jolan is smashed by Sinatalla's fist. Sinatalla takes off for the tower and I see Jolan dead. I hear the cannon. Jolan is resting forever.

"Come here please!" whispers Sidniay. I go over and she whispers,

"Do you know why Sinatalla never speaks?" I never thought about it. "He's an AVOX!"

"What?" I think to myself stunned, an Avox would be serving people in the Capitol not in the Games!

"Oh I can guess what you're thinking!" she sneered, "But Sinatalla was a strange case. He was tried to be an Avox, but after they cut out his tongue they realize hey this guy's innocent sorry! So they sent him to district 1 and told his family he was killed."

"So that's the reason he didn't speak when I cut his leg!"

"He couldn't you fool! He met me after he was shipped to District 1! We became friends and started to train together, we were 9 then. He told me about his plans for revenge on the Capitol and I agreed with him!" she said almost out of breath, "And do you know what? I fell in love with the supposed to be Avox!" she said tears in her eyes and said quietly, "But I never got to tell him that."

"I want to know something," I say. She looks at me for the question. "Would you consider ever killing him?"

She looks at me, "Never, he means too much to me. The only thing he wanted was revenge. A rebellion, a way to stop all the cruelty!" she looks sadly into my eyes, "But I guess it will never happen."

I then hear the cannon of Sidniay and I say,

"I'll tell Sinatalla," I say, "I promise!" I start to run up the tower when I realize I never said goodbye to Jolan. I then stop and realize something even though it didn't seem like it Sidniay had her feet placed in love helping Sinatalla achieve his goal so right now I had to chose where I was going to stand. I thought about it and then I realized I had the same devotion that Marcellus, Sidniay, and... Sabarina had. I knew where I had to stand and I fully realize what Marcellus was talking about you'll be torn if you should fight for yourself or your friends. I needed to stand firm. I realize Jolan didn't have his feet planted, he was always shifting his feet. Marcellus could tell I was doing the exact same thing and he needed to tell me.

I start to run up the tower thanking my friends silently for getting me this far. I promice they didn't die in vain. I get to the top and I see birds, small vulture-like creatures circling overhead.

"Sinatalla!" I call and he turns around. He glares at me and starts to charge when I call out and say,

"Did you know that Sidniay loved you?" He stops his charge and stares at me. "Yes Yes she did! She never got to tell you though! She helped you through everything!" I see the tear marks on his face he already knew that I figure he was crying. "You said you wanted revenge on the Capitol! I know how you feel! The Capitol took away my friends!" I see the tears start to form in his eyes. "They never let you see your family again! Sinatalla I promise that when the day comes for a rebellion I will stand against the Capitol for Jolan, Lynian, Marcellus, Sidniay, Sabarina, and you." He's on the ground weeping and he looks up at me and pulls out a piece of paper and writes something down. He gives it to me and runs straight at me faster and faster until falls of the tower and joins Sidniay forever. I read the note.

"I loved Sidniay, she was the only one who believed in me and now I know she loved me that is all the words I need to survive, but I won't. I believe you in what you said, about the rebellion. I always knew the Capitol was evil when my tongue was cut out when I was 8. Sidniay stuck by me and loved me everyday. So now I'll be with her forever wherever we may go now. Thank you."

I feel a rush of tears I don't try to stop them. I cry for everything that's happened. I cry for my friends and Sidniay and Sinatalla. I cry for every tribute who's ever died in these wretched Games or will die in them. I cry mostly for the only one I will ever love... Sabarina. I cry for my oath that I will stand in the uprising against the capitol even if I be an 80 year old man. I will never let them destroy the human spirit through these Games. No never.

After the Games I am carted away to a room where they "Fix" me. After a week or so I go to the Caesar Flickerman show. We watch my Games and the announcers say I was crying because I had won and they made my actual scene with Sinatala a fight to the death and that I shoved him off the side of the tower. I wanted to punch someone right then and now.  
I didn't care about the tour that much, what I cared about was getting home. When I did get home I was surprised by a horrible reality... The Capitol killed my family. My dad, my brothers... So AAlilian quit her job as a stylist for the Games and now I live with her and Finnick. I met Mags, my new neighbor and I could tell she liked me.  
The next year Seneca Crane came to my house looking for AAlillian. He was fuming red and steam was coming out his ears.

"Where is she?! AAlillian! WHERE IS SHE YOU FOOL!" Seneca barges into my house with, with.

"Why are you holding a shock 42?! Those things kill! AAlilllian! AAlillian! RUN!"

"So she is here! AAlillian! It's your brother!" AAlillian comes down the stairs.

AAlillian holds her brother's gaze for a second and then asks me, "Aspen, would you be so kind to sit Mr. Crane at the table? Maybe a small appetizer?"

I go over to the kitchen and get an appetizer ready, but I catch snippets of the conversation.  
"Why did you leave the capitol?! Everyone is outraged with you AAlillian!"

That was Seneca...

"I saw how evil those games are! They kill innocent children! Not kids even old enough to know what to do! It's despicable!"

"Your shop...What is it now? AAlillian Abbigliamento? What language was that? One of the ancient languages you studied! Do you seriously believe there are more nations out there?"

"Yes I believe so! I have read study books on Geography and there were once North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and Antarctica! I believe they are more out there!"

"So... This book?" Seneca asks. I can't see the book, but I can tell it's the one.

"Give me that you...!" Seneca tucks the book in his coat and heads out the door.

"WAIT SENECA! YOUR APPETIZER!" I call after him and I hand him a small tupperware dish.

"Thank you Aspen..." Seneca rushes away.

"What did you put in that dish?" AAlillian comes up from behind me.

"Hairy Beef Legs and Fish guts, but made to look like a 5 star dish."

AAlillian chuckles, "Well we're going to watch the news tonight!"

She was right. On the news, a reporter announces that Seneca Crane was rushed to the hospital.

The next year I don't mentor. Or the next or the next, but my chance does come. One of years Mags is sick so I come in to mentor. They complain about getting taught by a kid who's 3 feet shorter and 4 years younger, but I prove them wrong. I pin most of them to the wall with my spears. My childhood, was stolen, my family stolen, my love, stolen. And I will never forgive them...Ever.

The Story of Aspen Jarvasan has come to a close, but I want to ask you.  
Where are you standing?


End file.
